It appears as if the movement to take back the 9/11 memorial has been successful:
In what can only be described as a major victory in the fight to get the IFC and the Drawing Center off the site at Ground Zero, the LMDC has announced they are looking for alternative sites for the two cultural centers. However, in making that announcement, LMDC Board Chairman John Whitehead immediately downplayed the expectation of finding another location.
The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, acknowledging protests by relatives of Sept. 11 victims, is taking ?one last look? at alternatives to placing a ?museum of freedom? and art museum adjacent to the planned memorial, foundation chairman John Whitehead said.
Possible substitutes could include another spot within the 16-acre trade center site, outside the section that includes the foundations of the destroyed twin towers, or ?immediately beyond the 16 acres,? he said.
The decision to reconsider the location of the International Freedom Center and the Drawing Center came at a closed meeting of the foundation?s board yesterday, and followed protests by 14 family organizations who say the institutions would bring political themes too close to the symbolic resting place of the 2,749 people killed in the 2001 terrorist attack.
?To date we haven?t been able to find a place, but we will make one final effort,? Whitehead said at a meeting of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the state agency steering downtown redevelopment, which he also chairs. (Read More)
We welcome the decision by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to pursue other locations for the International Freedom Center (IFC) and other non-9/11 related cultural amenities. But make no mistake, that pursuit must continue until it ends with the removal of the IFC and The Drawing Center from Ground Zero. We do not view this decision as ?one last look around? – we view this as the last chance for the IFC and The Drawing Center to find a home other than atop the graves of 2,749 people. They cannot remain there and we will not rest until they are removed.
I would say we have one a battle here, but not the war. As you can tell from their statement, the LDMC leaves alot of leeway in moving the two silly museums. Still a war to fight tho folks, so this is not the time to take it easy.
This is apparent in the statement made by the head of the LDMC, John Whitehead, directed to 3 board members who have opposed the museums. Those 3 happen to be the only one’s on the board who lost family on 9/11: (via A Blog For All)
Whitehead, meanwhile, took aim yesterday at three directors on the foundation’s board who have publicly criticized the proposed cultural projects.
“The misrepresentations they have offered have done serious damage,” he said without naming names. “The public is confused about the elements of the site.”
Monika Iken, Debra Burlingame and Lee Ielpi ?? each of whom lost a family member on 9/11 ?? have opposed the cultural centers.
The public has “been told that the campaign is to ‘take back the memorial’ ?? as if it ever went away,” Whitehead said in an apparent reference to the critics’ Take Back the Memorial campaign.
Last night, Burlingame accused Whitehead of having violated the memorial board’s code of conduct, unanimously adopted this week.
“It is regrettable that the ink is barely dry on the code . . . [yet] the chairman would slander three of the board members while at the same trying to muzzle us,” she said.
This guy is disgusting. Yes, the memorial went away when you attempted to dishonor the site with a museum that has nothing to do with those who died that day. Disgusting.
Check out Strata-Sphere & Michelle Malkin for more.
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